Crises Effects Management: A New Policy to Manage Tourism Crises in Egypt

Sabreen G. Abd El-Jalil

Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Minia University, El Minia, Egypt

This article displays the fatal crises and evaluates their impacts on the tourism activity in Egypt, particularly the crisis after the revolution of January 25, 2011. Moreover, it suggests a policy that includes different components that need to be addressed for the establishment of the crises management policy (CMP). The general direction equations and correlations are applied to estimate the negative impact of the crises on tourism activity progress in Egypt during the last two decades. Furthermore, interviews were conducted with experts and academics to evaluate the suggested CMP, while interviews with representatives of the governmental and the private tourism sectors were held to compare the suggested CMP with the CMP that was used by the governmental and private sectors after the revolution of January 25. The study concludes that the Luxor attack in 1997, the September 11, 2001 attack in the US, the global financial crisis in 2009, and the January 25, 2011 revolution were the most damaging crises that strongly influenced tourism activity. Likewise, it reveals that the tourism sector in Egypt uses some recovery procedures and tasks to manage the crisis of January 25 and all the prior crises; therefore, the development of an appropriate CMP would be extremely essential.

*Department of Environmental Science, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana†Department of Geography, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland‡School of Tourism and Hospitality, Faculty of Management, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa§Department of Tourism, North West University, Mmabatho, South Africa

The tourism industry can contribute significantly to developing countries’ economic development due to the increase in tourist demand that has occurred in recent decades. However, the industry is highly sensitive to the effects of climate change and destinations in developing countries, especially, should aim to ensure that their tourism operations and products are sustained through the implementation of suitable climate change adaptation strategies. The purpose of this article is to examine the existence and nature of adaptation strategies that have been adopted by tourism businesses in Maun (Botswana), in the Okavango Delta area in order to gauge their preparedness to the estimated impacts of climate change. This will be based on the tourism business operators’ perceptions and knowledge about climate change. Qualitative data were collected by means of semistructured interviews and analysis of the results reveals that while tourist operators have perceived and expect negative environmental changes linked to climate, the majority of interviewees had not experienced negative impacts to their own business operations. As a result, the interviewed operators have not adopted climate change adaptation strategies. The continuation of this situation is a potential threat to the future success of nature-based tourism in Botswana, a sector of tourism that contributes the most to the industry, making it the second important economic sector in the country.

Given the rising popularity of online research in tourism and hospitality, an imperative question is whether it can substitute or complement the more traditional survey modes. By measuring and controlling for coverage, sampling, nonresponse, and measurement errors, this study explores the validity of the online survey mode, comparing responses to a visitor survey across the following two modes: online and the frequently used tourism research tool of on-site, face-to-face survey. The results reveal a lower response rate to the online survey, and differences between the two tested modes in demographics (gender, travel party size, and age composition), tripographics, and travel behaviors. The findings support the notion that a mixed-mode survey has the potential of increasing response rate, mitigating the nonresponse error, and can be used to target certain segments for better representation.

This study examines the complex dimensionality of brand loyalty, including its attitudinal and behavioral components. Brand loyalty is proposed to consist of a single dimension of behavioral loyalty and a second-order hierarchical attitudinal loyalty, including the subdimensions of cognitive loyalty, affective loyalty, and conative loyalty. This study also proposes that service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and brand image are important determinants of brand loyalty. The results, drawn from sample three-star and four-star hotels, show that attitudinal loyalty is a first-order hierarchical factor consisting of cognitive loyalty, affective loyalty, and conative loyalty indicators rather than a second-order hierarchical factor. The results also indicate that service quality, perceived value, and customer satisfaction are antecedents that directly affect attitudinal loyalty. Rather than directly affecting loyalty, brand image plays a role in strengthening these three loyalty determinants.